Ministers to reject privacy law demands

Ministers said last night that they would continue to resist pressure for a privacy law to counter media intrusion.

The assurance came after a call for legislation yesterday by the influential Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

In a keenly-awaited report, the committee declared that the Government had "sown the seed" of such a law with the Human Rights Act of 1998 and that some form of legislation was now inevitable.

It urged ministers to take the initiative rather than allowing it to take shape on an ad-hoc basis in the courts.

The committee also called for reforms to strengthen the system of press self-regulation through the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), which handles complaints by the public against newspapers. It accused the PCC of being "slightly too softly, softly".

It said the commission should have the power to order compensation in the most serious cases.

Last night the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said privacy legislation was not "on the cards" and that ministers still supported self-regulation through the PCC. A spokesman said however that the PCC needed to take calls for reform "very seriously".

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said: "The Government continues to believe that a free press is vital in a democracy and that self-regulation is the best regulatory system. But that does not mean that there is no room for improvement."

PCC chairman Sir Christopher Meyer said he had already drawn up an eight-point plan to improve the commission's workings and would study the committee's recommendations.

"It is important to remember, that as an independent body - independent from newspapers, politicians, lawyers and any other interest group - the PCC is not obliged to accept any of them," he said.

He added: "The PCC is not perfect. But it works better through 'self-regulation plus' - a Commission in which tough-minded lay members outnumber editors - than any alternative on offer."

The Culture Committee argued that a privacy law was needed in order to fulfil the Government's obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights which was enshrined in English law by the Human Rights Act.

It cited the recent case brought by Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones against Hello! magazine claiming breach of confidence after the unauthorised publication of photographs of their wedding.

In that case, Mr Justice Lindsay warned that the existing law did not cover their claim for intrusion and said that if Parliament did not act, the courts would.

Committee chairman Gerald Kaufman said they still supported the principles of press self-regulation but were responding to the development of human rights law.

"It was perfectly clear to me that if there were not a properly enacted privacy law with full safeguards, then the Human Rights Bill would create a de facto privacy law not decided by Parliament, but by judges, ad hoc," he said.